Browns Bench Manziel Following Bye Week Indiscretions

The dumpster fire that is the Cleveland Browns 2015 season has hit a new low, with head coach Mike Pettine announcing that he has benched Johnny Manziel in favour of Josh McCown…again. The news came following the release of a video by TMZ Sports that showed the polarising talent partying during the team’s bye week.

The footage shows Manziel flanked by a couple of friends holding champagne bottles, as he sings along to Future’s “March Madness.” Admittedly, the video itself does not appear to be particularly damning, but it is the context surrounding it that has resulted in swift action from Pettine.

Manziel’s heavily-publicized trip to rehab for his alcohol addiction earlier this year renders the video especially damaging to the integrity of the franchise, and to Manziel’s claim that he would “not do anything disruptive” upon being named the starter.

There is some dissent over the recency of the clip, with some claiming that the on-screen scenes did not occur over the bye week. However, the nature of the song in the video means the events occurred in March 2015 at the earliest, mere weeks after Manziel completed his rehabilitation program.

The harshness of the punishment could mean Manziel has played his last game in a Browns uniform. No sooner had he thrown for almost 400 yards in a valiant losing effort against the Steelers that he is back riding the pine for the rest of the season.

But what would happen in the likely event that McCown reinjures himself in the final six weeks of the season, kicking off with a Monday night encounter against the Baltimore Ravens?

Well, fear not. Pettine, in his infinite desire to keep Johnny Football off the field by any means necessary, has promoted Austin Davis to the backup role while hurtling Manziel all the way down to third-string.